A Pennsylvania state senator is accused of using taxpayer money to throw her annual birthday bash, a campaign event.

State Sen. LeAnna Washington, D-Philadelphia, is charged with theft of services and felony conflict of interest after a grand jury found she may have used her office for political and financial gain, Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced Wednesday.

Washington is accused of directing Senate staff to perform campaign work over eight years and using intimidation and verbal abuse to coerce them, even though staff knew the practice was illegal, according to the grand jury. Washington allegedly cut salaries or fired staff who disagreed with the practice, according to a news release announcing the charges.

“The evidence will show that Senator Washington pressured her staff into performing political activities using taxpayer dollars for her own personal benefit,” Kane said in the release.

Larry Brinkin, who worked at the Human Rights Commission for the City of San Francisco for 22 years and was a prominent homosexual rights activist for more than 40 years, pleaded guilty to felony child pornography possession last week.

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Brinkin is expected to serve six months in jail, five years of probation, and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life when he is sentenced on Mar. 5. But he likely will get to keep his city pension because possessing and viewing child porn apparently is not considered a crime of “moral turpitude” under San Francisco’s retirement/pension rules.

According to police, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and SF Weekly, Brinkin had photographic images of children between the ages of 1 and 3 who were being sodomized and forced to perform oral sex on adult men.

Also, in e-mails attributed to Brinkin using the account “Zack3737@aol.com,” he praised interracial adult-child sex saying, in one message, “I loved especially the [N-word] 2 year old getting nailed. Hope you’ll continue so I can see what the little blond bitch is going to get. White Power! White Supremacy! White D— Rules!”

Brinkin, who is “married” to partner Wood Massi and has a son with two mothers, retired from the city’s Human Rights Commission in 2010, when he was 64 years old. At the time and with the support of city official Bevan Dufty, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, in honor of Brinkin’s work over the years to combat discrimination, passed a resolution declaring the first seven days of February 2010 “Larry Brinkin Week.”

While on the Human Rights Commission, Brinkin had worked as a compliance officer, responsible for helping to ensure non-discrimination against employees. He had been instrumental, back in 1982, in implementing San Francisco’s Equal Benefits Ordinance, which required employers to provide equal coverage for “domestic partners.” Further, Brinkin has been a long-time advocate for gay “marriage.”

The archived pages of SF Pride say of Brinkin, “Larry Brinkin has been an activist in San Francisco for over 35 years, co-founding Bay Area Gay Liberation, the Lesbian/Gay Labor Alliance, and the Gay & Lesbian Alternative Dispute Resolution Service. He was a pioneer in the struggle for domestic partner benefits and currently is the manager of the LGBT&HIV Division of the SF Human Rights Commission. He played a major role in recent years in the struggle for transgender rights.”

Brinkin was first arrested in the child pornography investigation in June 2012. According to the news reports, in early 2012 America Online (AOL) had contacted authorities after discovering e-mails and child pornographic images in one of the company’s subscriber accounts.

The Los Angeles Police Department, then put in charge of the case, traced the IP address of the e-mail account Zack3737@aol.com to Larry Brinkin. Police then confirmed that Brinkin had paid for the e-mail service with his credit card.

At that point, the San Francisco Police Department was informed of the case and carried on the investigation.

As the San Francisco Chroniclereported in June 2012, “Police say that Brinkin had pornographic images, some that appear to show children as young as 1 and 2 or 3 years old being sodomized and performing oral sex on adult men, in e-mail attachments linked to his account, according to a search warrant served by San Francisco police.”

“Police provided two examples of e-mail messages from last year in which Zack3737 provides disturbing descriptions of the exploitative sexual acts,” reported The Chronicle. “The e-mail account also is linked to Yahoo discussion groups on sexual exploitation of young boys and girls, according to the search warrant.”

“Investigators say they additionally found e-mails sent from Brinkin’s now-defunct city e-mail account to Zack373@aol.com,” reported SF Weekly.

The district attorney’s press release further says, “Investigators determined the defendant received e-mails and sent two reply emails containing the child pornography. On June 22, the San Francisco Police Department seized computers belonging to the defendant containing dozens of images of child pornography.”

Like the e-mail already mentioned, the Bay Area Reporter noted that police cited in court records another e-mail comment about a child porn image where Brinkin boasted about a 2-to-3-year-old caucasian child being sodomized by a black adult male.

After Brinkin’s initial arrest, Theresa Sparks, executive director of San Francisco’s Human Rights Commission, told the media, “It’s almost incredulous, there’s no way I could believe such a thing. He’s always been one of my heroes, and he’s the epitome of human rights activist – this is the man who coined phrases we use in our daily language. I support Larry 100%. Hopefully, it will all come out in the investigation.”

Bevan Dufty, who served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and now is director of Housing Opportunity, Partnerships and Engagement in the mayor’s office, following Brinkin’s arrest said, “I have admired and respected his work for the LGBT community. I respect and am confident that there will be due process.”

Several e-mail and telephone inquiries from CNSNews.com to Dufty, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the San Francisco Human Rights Commission (HRC), and its media relations contact, David Miree, for comment on Larry Brinkin’s guilty plea were not answered before this story was posted.

HRC Executive Director Theresa Sparks did speak with the Bay Area Reporter, however, saying, “Overall, I have no comment, obviously, professionally. But personally I think it’s just a very, very sad commentary, a very sad situation. I’m heartbroken it happened.”

Brinkin had worked at the Human Rights Commission for 22 years and retired in 2010, when he was making a salary of $135,000, according to SF Weekly.

Concerning whether Brinkin will retain his city pension, his attorney Randall Knox said he did not think the felony child porn possession conviction was relevant because it apparently does not fall under “moral turpitude,” as explained in the city rule Proposition C.

“This is not a moral turpitude crime,” Knox told the Bay Area Reporter, and it is “not something that happened when he was working for the city.”

Under that law, approved in 2008, a city employee who commits a crime involving “moral turpitude” cannot collect retirement benefits from the city.

In a June 2008 voter guide released by SPUR, a non-profit group that focuses on urban policy in San Francisco, it explains Proposition C- Moral Turpitude as follows, “As applied to crimes that might be committed in connection with employment with the City, moral turpitude often involves some kind of theft of public property, including materials and services.

“Proposition C is an amendment to the San Francisco City Charter that would prevent retired City employees who are convicted of crimes of moral turpitude from receiving the City-funded portion of their pension, if the crimes were committed ‘in connection with their employment.’”

Brinkin pleaded guilty in his plea deal on Jan. 21. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Mar. 5. The plea deal reduced the six felony child pornography charges to one felony count of possessing child porn.

In addition to the six months’ incarceration, home detention, probation, and registering as a sex offender for life, Brinkin will also have to undergo sex offender therapy, “and is banned from working with kids, contacting a juvenile without parental consent, and living with someone responsible for a child without disclosing his offender status,” reported the San Francisco Chronicle.

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North Carolina State Rep. Deb McManus was arrested on felony tax charges Wednesday and has subsequently resigned, after posting a $150,000 bond.

McManus, is a first-term Democrat and a longtime member of the Chatham County School board, where she served her term.

She was charged with three felony counts of embezzlement of state money.

The Department of Revenue reports that McManus embezzled $47,000 in state individual income tax withheld between January 2011 and July 2013 at her husband’s medical office, Carolina Family Practice in Siler City.

Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner pleaded guilty this morning to three criminal counts related to the sexual harassment allegations that drove him from office after a summer of scandal.

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Specifically, Filner pleaded guilty before Superior Court Presiding Judge Robert Trentacosta to one felony count of false imprisonment by violence, fraud, menace and deceit and two misdemeanor counts of battery. Sentencing was set for Dec. 9, and documents indicate he will get three years of probation. He will serve three months of home confinement but no prison or jail time.

Filner also must undergo mental health treatment, has agreed never to seek public office again and will lose a portion of his city pension.

The charges involve three unnamed women victims, with the following events this year, which Filner admitted to one by one:

On March 6, he used force to overcome the resistance of a woman at a fundraiser, violating her liberty. This incident resulted in the felony charge.

On April 6, he kissed a woman on the lips at a one of his “Meet the Mayor” events for the public, resulting in one battery charge.

On May 25, he went to a Fiesta Island rally and clean-up, and when a woman posed with him for a photo, he touched her rear end, resulting in the second battery charge.

U-T Watchdog reported earlier this month that a criminal grand jury had been empaneled to hear evidence of possible criminal charges against Filner, 71, who resigned from office on Aug. 30. At least two lawyers said that they had clients who were called to testify in front of the panel, with appearance dates later this week. The guilty plea indicates the impending proceedings may have provided leverage for a plea deal.

Allegations of sexual harassment against Filner have been investigated by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office, using a special hotline set up for the purpose. The sheriff handled the investigation because the city police department reported to Filner. Similarly, prosecution on criminal charges was handled by the state Attorney General’s Office because of a conflict of interest. That is, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis ran against Filner for mayor last year.

Filner resigned from office under mounting pressure from allegations from about 20 women that he groped, fondled or otherwise acted inappropriately to them. Several of them described being put in the “Filner headlock” while he touched them inappropriately.

In addition to the criminal charges, he faces one lawsuit by his former communications director and one city claim from a parks worker. He left office after the City Council agreed to help with his legal defense related to those actions.

Gloria Allred, attorney for the former communications director, told U-T Watchdog by email, “He has abused his position of power and his position of trust and hurt many women. That is why on many occasions I urged the women of San Diego to contact the San Diego County Sheriff’s hotline if they had relevant information to report about Mayor Filner. I am proud of the women who did contact them. It is long overdue for him to be accountable in both the civil and criminal justice system and today is an important step forward in bringing Bob Filner to justice. His conduct as the mayor of San Diego was reprehensible and justice demands that he be punished for the harm he has caused to countless women who trusted and believed in him.”

City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, who is defending the city and Filner against Allred’s lawsuit, issued a statement saying, “Today’s action underscores the importance of Mr. Filner’s removal from office and will further help our city and the victims put this behind us.”

Separately, the Watchdog has reported, federal agents have made inquiries about Filner’s handling of a Kearny Mesa development by Sunroad Centrum Partners. The developer received a city concession after giving the mayor’s office $100,000 for favorite Filner causes. Any pending investigation of that matter is separate from the Attorney General’s charges regarding Filner’s alleged personal misconduct.

Filner was elected last year and served as mayor for nine months. He spent two decades as a U.S. congressman and, before that, served on the school board and City Council in San Diego. He also took part in the freedom rides for civil rights in the south in the 1960s.

An Albuquerque, New Mexico dad who found a naked prowler peering into his young daughter’s room will face charges after seriously beating the peeping tom. Police say Emilio Chavez III found 29-year-old Dylan Maho naked and making noises near a little girl’s window when he chose to exact vigilante justice and beat Maho so badly he was taken to the hospital. While both men could be convicted of felonies, Chavez could potentially get a longer sentence for what he did to the intruder. ‘There’s a naked man outside his daughter’s window,’ Chavez’s neighbor Bill Morang told KOAT. ‘I think he was well within his rights chasing him down and beating him.’ But the district attorney disagrees. Though police initially let the irate father go free after questioning, he is now charged with aggravated battery, a felony.

Long-time Hamilton County poll worker Melowese Richardson was convicted Monday of illegal voting and could go to prison for up to six years for it.

Richardson, 58, of Madisonville, pleaded no contest to four counts of illegal voting – including voting three times for a relative who has been in a coma since 2003 – in exchange for prosecutors dropping four other illegal voting charges. Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman immediately convicted her, making her a felon.

A Hamilton County poll worker since 1998, Richardson admitted she voted illegally in the 2008, 2011 and 2012 elections.